Canada decides to keep mental-illness exclusion from MAID legislation

Canada's Justice Minister Sean Fraser confirmed that the country will not extend medical assistance in dying to people seeking it solely because of mental illness. Existing rules already prohibit such cases, and the provision is scheduled to expire in March 2027. The federal government plans to table a bill that will maintain the exclusion on an indefinite basis.

Fraser emphasized that MAID will continue to be accessible to patients who give informed consent while they retain decision-making capacity, despite a later diagnosis that may impair it. No further expansion of the MAID framework is being pursued at this time.